1 nomination from readers

• Power League is a free online tool specifically designed to help engage children and adults alike in debate and discussion - a crucial part of education today, where learners need to develop skills to equip them for the 21st century and not just assimilate information. This tool, which can be used for whole class discussion, enables pupils to critically evaluate their own opinions and explore and listen to the different perspectives of their peers.

  Leagues within the Power League tool consist of a database of people, things or ideas chosen by the teacher or students. Students are presented with a question, for example, “what do you think is the bigger cause of climate change?” and they vote for one item from a series of randomly generated pairs. The Power League then ranks each of the items by the whole group’s overall order of preference, changing the order each time a student casts a vote. The often-unexpected nature of the pairs being compared is often what makes a good starting point for debate.

  In addition to being able to design their own league, students can use one of the five ready-to-use leagues available on powerleague.org.uk. These include the New School League, where students discuss the most important factors that need to be taken into consideration when redesigning a school, and the World Power League, where students get to debate who they think should be the most powerful person in the world.

  Benefits:

  o Helps people to recognise the role of debate and discussion in a democratic society.

  o Helps pupils critically evaluate their own opinions and listen to the different perspectives of others

  o Engaging and stimulating learning

  o Can be used by anyone

  o Can be used in any subject as you can design your own league

  o It’s free.

  21 May 2008